1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for providing a user with a service corresponding to a service content which meets the interests and preferences of the user among a plurality of service contents, to a terminal and to a storage medium. More particularly, the invention relates to a service-providing system suited to increase security of a user's privacy by preventing a user's personal information from externally leaking out, as well as to a service-providing terminal, to a client terminal, and to a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
An information-providing system disclosed in Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-326289 is an exemplary conventional technique for providing a user with a service corresponding to a content suited for the user's interest and preferences among a plurality of service contents.
In this system, an information-provider terminal which is used by an information provider who provides information, and an information-user terminal which is used by an information user who receives information, can communicate with each other over a network, and information is presented between the information-provider terminal and the information-user terminal. The information-user terminal holds a user attribute value which represents a user's interest by a numeric value in a user attribute storing part, and sends the information identification of the information desired to be displayed and a user attribute value to the information-provider terminal. The information-provider terminal holds an information attribute value which represents the content of information by a numeric value in an information attribute storing part, and reflects an information attribute value of the information identification and the user attribute value, which are received from the information-user terminal, so as to update each of the values. The information-provider terminal selects the information using the updated information attribute value and user attribute value and returns a list of the selected information, the information specified by the user, and the user attribute value to the information-user terminal.
It is thereby possible to dynamically grasp a user's interest of the information and provide accurate information corresponding to the user's interest.
However, the above-described conventional information-providing system is configured such that, when an information is presented, the user attribute value, which represents the user's interest by a numeric value, is sent and received between the information-provider terminal and information-user terminal. Thus, there is a possibility that the user attribute information may be externally leaked out by tapping during transmission. Although the user attribute information is the information of the user's interest which is represented by a numeric value, the user's personal information is revealed, if analyzed. Consequently, protection of the user's privacy has been insufficient.